Wednesday, June 25, 2014

THE ART OF PLAY

Two kite
workshops and a toy boat print making project took us on a journey out to Anderson
Ranch Arts Center in Aspen and Snowmass, Colorado and the Atelier 6000 gallery and printmaking cooperative in
Bend, Oregon this past two weeks. I have
to say both Melanie and I treat workshops as a chance for us to play along as
well with the students in our own classes. We both needed some valuable time
off after a heavy spring season of exhibitions, kite festivals and commission
works to be installed.

the woodshop at Anderson Ranch

Anderson
Ranch Art Center is a very special place in the mountains of Aspen and
Snowmass, Colorado. The school and workshop facility was started some fifty
years ago by a group of artists and ceramicists to offer workshops in painting,
ceramics, printmaking, photography, wood working and now … kite making. We
probably used every media available to the students for our week long adventure
into the art and craft of paper and bamboo kites. We used Sumi ink, torn paper
collage, paper fold kites, photo ink jet wax print transfers, digital prints, paper
fold ink prints as well as conte and crayon drawings for cover designs.

The art of spitting bamboo was taught from the stash of shafts we brought with us. Kite books lined the tables for inspirational idea making as well as a slide talk opening eyes to the art of kites around the world.

This was our
third invitation to Anderson Ranch with previous years creating our own works
as artists in residence. We worked with talented and fun teen students creating
and bouncing off of each other’s ideas. This basic kite making class started
with simple miniature “sketch idea” kites and grew from there into larger
flyables.

Each evening
after leaving the dining hall we played with the light winds on the nearby golf
course as the sun set over the ridge of the western high peaks. A delightful experience! We’ll return later in the summer to dress up the
campus with banners and wind creations for their annual Anderson Ranch
Auction fund raiser.

Thumbing through our kite books, she said "I want to make one of those!"...

a kite design by Austrian kite maker, Anna Rubin

one of Melanie's photo kites on Kozo paper

some of my paper Cat Kites

our very small but very productive class ...

with Melanie, Riley, Jess, Elie, me and Kat

Melanie's ink jet wax transfer printed kozo paper kite

my Mr. Edo Wardo kite at the Friday Luncheon Auctionette

the last night goodbye bonfire party

ATELIER 6000 PRINT MAKING STUDIO AND GALLERY

+ FLYING & SAILING AT THE MILL IN BEND OREGON

From there
we packed the kites and workshop materials and headed for Bend, Oregon to the
Atelier 6000 printmaking studio and gallery for our “Flyables + Floatables”
workshop. The first day was kite making with small miniature kites made from
simple materials of Kozo paper and bamboo. These quick small kite designs and
methods were then expanded into larger creations using a variety of painting,
collage and print making techniques.

The second
day we unpacked our pre-made Styrofoam toy boat hulls that we had made earlier
to pass out to the class for the creative play session. Everyone took to the
challenge like, well, ducks to water! Hulls were painted, printed and stamped
with elaborate designs. Sails and masts sprouted from the small decks. Ballast weighted keels were added as well as
rudders, tillers, rigging, banners, tassles and even a few toy passengers
scavenged from a large toy box someone brought to the class.

By the end of the second day everyone took their boats and kites for the final test of fire… flying and floating at The Mill, a recently developed shopping area in the heart of Bend. There by the Deschutes River with summer floating parties drifting down past the old buildings of the former lumber mill now turned into fancy shops and riverside restaurants we tentatively lowered the little sailboats into a nearby pond for their baptism to the wet.

Off they drifted, paper
sails tipping dangerously close to the choppy seas. Some headed for the pond falls while others
drifted into the pump water vents. Screams were followed by a run with the long retrieving
poles around the pond and catching the boats just in time to send to the
opposite side… and into the rocks. People walking by watched this scene of
adults playing with toy boats with curiosity. Passing children wanted their own boats as well pleading with their parents to buy one for them. Nope.. not for sale. Gotta make your own.

The winds
were also a bit too strong for the kites but several students tried. One
flipped from its mooring under a box weight and ended up in the water. Despite
it all everyone had a fun and splashy day. No one fell in. All the boats not
only floated but sailed as if steered by their toy passengers. Everyone thanked
us for getting them to think outside the box of standard printmaking practice and
remembering that fine act of playful fun we learned as children. Some said it was the best workshop experience
they had ever had.

After cleanup
we hopped into our little silver Beetle bug car and spent two days on the road
with our eyes on those fabulous western skies of Idaho, Utah and Wyoming and
remembering a great time mucking about with boats and kites.

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ABOUT AIRWORKS STUDIO

The studio started from a simple joy of making kites in 1976 and has expanded to working with the themes of flight and air in sculptural works. The aerial sculptures now include the aerial acrobatics of colorful and kinetic mobiles, wind blown sail forms, delicate suspended structures, banners, arching bridge forms, wind activated works and installation sculptures.

We have been a collaborating artist team on various sculpture commissions, theater performance works and international kite exhibitions since 1996. Our combined works span a wide range of disciplines. Airworks Studio was created in 1999 to further the exploration into the realms of aerial sculpture.

AIRWORKS STUDIO WEB SITE

LINKS

ABOUT US

G E O R G E P E T E R S

George Peters has a thirty year history of working with aerial forms from gallery works to installation sculpture, kites, mobiles, wind sculpture and banner works. He has completed over seventy national and international commissioned works for private, corporate and public institutions. He attended Art Center School of Design in Los Angeles and has worked in various art fields as a visual artist, sculptor, craftsman, fiber artist, environmental and installation sculpture, graphic arts, illustration, photography, film animation, digital imaging, architectural modeling, theater set and costume design. Since creating Airworks Studio, Inc. with artist, Melanie Walker in 1999, their joint works have won national and international public art commission awards.

M E L A N I E W A L K E R

Melanie Walker has an exhibition history that spans more than thirty years. She received a BA from San Francisco State University and an MFA from Florida State University. She is a mixed media artist and is invested in ideas. Her approach to materials includes photographic media, digital art, sculpture, installation, fiber art, printmaking, costume design and public art. She has exhibited her work both nationally and internationally and has work in a number of permanent collections including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson. She is presently a professor of art and teaches photography and alternative photographic processes at the University of Colorado, Boulder.